Supernova
by Mocking Verse
Summary: A supernova suddenly emits a great amount of light. I guess you could say I've made Paul seem a lot brighter, I mean, his days must have been pretty damn boring before I showed up. Paul/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Rachel Black never came home to visit, never ran into Paul on the beach that day. But Paul still imprinted, not on her, but on someone else….**

"Yes mom I have everything!" I held my cell phone up to my ear as I kept my eyes trained on the road before me, maneuvering the old, rusted up truck that was my sixteenth birthday present, through the town of Forks.

"And you're sure you know how to get to your Uncles'?" I sighed at her over-worrying. I loved my mother; don't get me wrong, she just worried too much sometimes.

"Yes, I looked up directions earlier. Now you go off and have a great day mom and I'll shoot you a text when I get there, I'm almost through Forks now." I pass a road sign, telling me that I'm only ten miles away from La Push, silently emphasizing my point to myself. I hear her sigh into the phone and I can see her running a hand over her forehead, pushing back her black hair.

"Okay. You be sure you text me Cassie, I love you." I smile to myself as I press the brake, stopping at the red light before me.

"I will, love you too Mom, tell Robby I'll miss him too." I hear my mom's soft laughter when I bring up my step dad. She always thought it was surprisingly weird, but great, that we got along.

"I will, drive safely."

"Always do, bye." I flip my phone shut and toss it atop my duffle bag in the passenger seat beside me. I turn up my radio and press down on the accelerator as the light changes to green.

I really hope my mom will be good with me not there for the whole summer. But she does have Robby there, and all the animals. You see, part of the reason why I liked Robby so much when I met him when I was twelve is because he has like, the coolest job in the world. He runs a rescue sanctuary for big cats. My mom and I live on 'Big Cat Preservation' with him now.

It's a big operation now too. We have seven different species of cats now and twenty six individuals. We rescue them from in home situations, or from a closing zoo, and give them a home. They can never be released into the wild again, but they have a life with us.

I tell myself again that everything will be fine; we do have a staff of about ten full time volunteers.

They'll be fine without me.

With that I focus fully back onto where I'm going and find myself entering La Push. I unroll a window, letting the smell of the ocean salt, mixed with the smell of early summer rain, fill the truck.

Five minutes later I'm pulling the truck into my Uncle Fred's driveway. I push the door open and jump out, my legs a bit wobbly after driving for the past seven hours. I hear the screen door of the house open and then I look to see Fred running towards me.

"You can't not come see me in three years and then just not hug me before getting your bags!" I laugh as he pulls me into a tight hug for a few moments. "It'll be good to have you for the summer."

"It'll be fun." He holds me out from him, looking me over.

"You cut your hair kid." I grin and run a hand through my short blonde hair. It's not long at all, going down a little past my ears, my bangs hanging down over my forehead but going off to the side slightly. I always liked it short. "You're still short though." He laughs at me as I scowl at him. Endless family jokes on why is Cassie so short have been said over the years.

"I'm five foot four thank you very much." I step back and go over to the passenger side of my truck, opening the door and pulling out one of my two bags. I catch my phone as it slips off the top and put it into my pocket. "Could you get the other one?"

"With pleasure, your room is up the stairs, last door on the right!"

"Okay!" I call out as I open the door to the small house and make my way up the stairs. They creak slightly under my feet and I look at all the pictures along the walls. My uncle never married, but he does love to take pictures. I recognize pictures of my real dad, from before he died in many of them. Fred is his younger brother, one of five other siblings my dad had in his family. I see my grandparents, who are still alive, in many other ones.

I reach the top of the stairs, go down the hallway, and kick open the last door on the right with my foot. I drop my bag on the double bed in the far corner of the room, opposite window that looks out over the yard and forest beyond. I sigh, putting my hands on my hips and bending my back backwards, the cracking sound seeming loud in the quiet room.

"I hope this is big enough for you." I look over and smile at Fred.

"It's perfect." He lets out a content sigh before dropping my other bag next to the first.

"I'll let you get settled; I put some hangers in the closet if you need any. Dinner will be ready in about an hour."

"Awesome, thanks a bunch." My uncle nods at me before exiting the room, closing the door behind him.

I walk over to the bed with a sigh, unzipping the larger of the two bags and pulling out some of my clothes. For the next few minutes I move my clothes into the dresser by the window, looking outside each time into the woods. It's strange having a view of them, my room back home just looks out onto the open plains. South Dakota isn't this, green.

I have my iPod playing out some of my favorite music by the time I'm on the second bag. I hum along with Chris Young's voice happily as I hold out a picture of me with Zara, one of the lionesses we have back home. I grin at the picture and place it atop one of the shelves above the bed, having to stand up atop the blue comforter to be able to reach.

By the time I'm called down to dinner, I have everything out of my bags and in the room. I run down the stairs, jumping from the third to the bottom to the floor and landing with a loud _thud_.

"You put a hole in that Cass!" I laugh when I see Fred looking at me with his eyebrows furrowed and mock glaring at me.

"No I won't, its fine." I grin as I grab a slice of pizza and sit down. I rest my elbows on the top and look across at my uncle. "So, whatcha doing tomorrow Fred?"

"Working till seven again, like every week day." He mimics my position, and looks up from his plate. "What about you?"

"I don't know, probably just look around town. See what's changed in the past three years."

"Maybe you can make some friends this time."

"I made friends last time!"

"No, I had to pick you up from Chief Swan three times last time because you and your 'friends' kept getting in trouble." He puts air quotes around 'friends' and I roll my eyes.

"We weren't doing anything bad."

"You were drag racing cars down the roads. That's illegal."

"It's fun, not my fault, I was only driving once."

"You were fifteen; you didn't even have a license yet!"

"Minor details Fred, minor details."

"You can only get in jail once this time. I'm only getting you once." I sigh, okay so I'm not the best kid in the world. But I don't smoke or drink or anything that bad, not anymore at least. Besides, it's only illegal if you get caught.

"Fine." I roll my eyes and he shakes his head at me. It doesn't even really count if you get arrested up here. They just keep you in a cell until you get picked up, unless you murdered somebody, which I've never done.

"Good girl."

;::;

I kicked at the surf as it enveloped my bare feet, causing them to sink deeper into the sand. The move sort of backlashes at me, as the cold water travels up my leg and splashes into my face. I start laughing as I close my eyes and just stand there. That wasn't a good idea.

I open my eyes and look down at my shirt, which has a streak of water on the front now. Whatever, I look from my shirt to the ocean and back to my shirt. I guess if I'm already wet.

I wade deeper into the surf, until the water is at my hips, my shorts soaking wet. I run my hand through the water, watching it move around and feeling the current. The sound of shouting in the distance causes me to look up towards the cliffs.

I grin when I see a group of boys on the top, jumping off into the ocean. The shouting grows louder until I see one figure push another off the edge. I snort aloud and look back to the beach. I start walking back towards the sand, picking my feet up out of the water and kicking out at it again. I've always loved the feeling of my feet pushing through the water.

;::;

That night I find myself sitting on the tailgate of some kid's truck. I ran into the bonfire party of kids who, from what I've eavesdropped on, are from Forks. I swing my feet back and forth to the loud music that they have playing while I take a sip of coke out of my plastic cup.

I was asked a few hours ago who even invited me here, by one of the other boys who is trying to dress like a thug I'm guessing. He had on a tank top and was wearing his hat backwards, so I can only go on my own judgment. I had just told him Ben invited me. It's my usual excuse for parties that I just show up to, pick a really common name and hope there's a kid who has it present.

I was in luck tonight. Which is why I'm still here.

"Hey kids!" I look up from watching my feet bounce against the fender of the truck at the booming voice. My eyes widen on their own accord at the boy, no man, who has just jogged over. I know it's cliché but he has to be the definition of tall, dark, and handsome. And, oh _god his shirt is open._ I tear my eyes away from the perfect six pack that he's showing off and laugh to myself as the kids around me go into a drunken panic.

"Ohhh, heyyy there." I look to see a kid in front of me staggering up and going towards the man. The guy looks up and smirks at the boy, his eyes drift behind him to me and then they stop, our gazes locking together.

His mouth falls open slightly and I purse my lips together, my legs stop swinging and I drum my fingers on the tailgate. Fuck, he must recognize that I'm not from here. I hop off the tailgate, pouring my coke into the sand and turn quickly, wrapping my arms around myself slightly, suddenly cold as I walk away quickly.

I'm just getting away from earshot of the party when I hear a voice call out to me. "Hey!" Feet pound against the sand towards me. "Hey, wait up!" I feel a hot hand land on my shoulder and turn me around. I see the man from the party, he smirks at me, and keeps his hand on my shoulder, just smiling at me. He's even more attractive up close, black hair is cut short and his eyes are a deep brown. I look over at his hand on my shoulder and raise an eyebrow.

"Can I help you?" I ask and he shakes his head slightly, noticing I'm talking to him.

"Yeah, uh, you wanna. Come on, let's get outta here. I know a cool place." He smirks at me, his eyes shining and I slightly scoff at him.

"Listen buddy, I don't even know-"

"I'm Paul." He interrupts me, seeming to know already what I'm going to say and I grin.

"Cassie."

"Cassie," my name seems to roll off his tongue and he grins again at me. His hand envelops mine and I laugh slightly. "Come on." I let him pull me in the direction he came from, wondering just what I'm letting myself get pulled into.

I have a feeling it's going to be a lot bigger than I can imagine.


	2. Chapter 2

She rolled in  
My little sandy town  
She spent the summer there  
A couple houses down  
Well it was magic in the air  
When she caught my eye

The One That Got Away-Jake Owen

* * *

By four in the morning of the next day, I'm still with Paul. I lean further into his chest as his arms go around me. The smile on my face refuses to fade away as he looks down at me. The moonlight illuminates his face, which looks down at me. I can smell the forest, the pine trees and wet grass.

After he took me away from the party, we just drove around all night. We stopped by the woods, going to a cliff that overlooked a river, where he showed me the deer that come to drink from there. Eventually we ended up here in a field and parked the truck, putting down the tailgate and laying down. The night wasn't very exciting, but it was one of my favorites.

"Where're you from?" His deep voice causes me to look up at him as he gazes down at me seriously. My smile fades away, only one end of my mouth stays slightly up.

"Does it matter?" He frowns at me, his jaw tightening slightly until I put a hand on it and he relaxes slightly. "Where I'm from doesn't mean that's where I'll be."

A breathy chuckle escapes him as he rocks me to one side, and then the other. My hand traces the lines of the tattoo on his right shoulder.

"Then where will you be?"

"La Push, for the summer." A wide smile grows on his face and I return it. He had told me he lives in La Push earlier, right down the street from First Beach. He told me about his strange friends, about how he protects the people. He told me that he lives with his best friend Jared, and that his dad lives a few streets over.

"Good."

"Good." My eyes drift closed and I hear him keep talking to me. His deep voice is soothing. I wonder how I can trust him this much already. I listen to him, or try to, and he is promising me that he'll never hurt me, that he'll never leave, and other promises that I know he won't be able to keep.

* * *

When I wake up I'm still in the truck bed, still in Paul's lap. He's asleep, and he only stirs gently when I get up, untangling his arms from around me. I bring my arms out from the long sleeves of his button up shirt, which he had taken off to give me when it had gotten colder last night. I fold it, laying it beside him before jumping down from the truck and making my way back to the road. I look back once to see him lying there, and I wonder what he'll think when he wakes up and I'm gone. Though I'm sure we'll see each other again soon.

I figure out where I am quickly and find the main road that leads me back towards my uncle's house. The morning walk does not do much to wake me up though, and I'm almost asleep on my feet when I walk inside.

Fred isn't even awake yet. I can hear his snoring from his room and I make my way up the stairs and down the hall. I flop myself onto my bed, looking around at all the pictures I have put up already. My eyes land on the one of Apollo and I. The cheetah has his head rubbing up against my leg as I scratch his back, causing it to arch slightly.

He's one of my favorites back home. My cat mostly, the first one that Robby let me raise all on my own. We had rescued him and his mom from a road side show that was closing down a few years ago. Apollo is old now, nine years old. The average life span of a captive cheetah is eight to twelve, so he may live for a few more years.

I smile when I think of Paul again. How we sat on the cliff overlooking the river for hours, watching as deer came to drink. Laughing and telling each other stories and just talking about nothing.

_You are kind of a strange person _

My inner self talks to me sometimes and I sigh, realizing that it is right. But really, who doesn't talk to themselves?

_Normal people. _

So what, normal is fucking boring.

* * *

"How's Dodger doing? And Kefa and Babbo? And-"

"Cassie!" My mom's sharp voice cuts me off. She lets out a light laugh and I realize I was going to start rambling. Oops.

"Sorry." I look down at my feet as I walk across the sand. My feet sink into the wet sand, even where I am higher up on the beach, due to the rain we've been having constantly the past three days.

_It's kind of fascinating how the sand looks drier when you step on it harder._

"They're all doing fine; they all didn't suddenly die due to your lack of expert care." Her voice is teasing by the end and I let out an indignant snort.

"You know they could." We both start laughing after a moment of silence.

"Just relax though, have a good summer. How's your uncle doing?"

"Fred's good, still Fred."

"Of course he is."

"I think I'd know to tell you if he had changed identities, which could've happened. What would happen if I had arrived at the house and a totally different man who claimed to be Fred answered the door?"

"I trust that you would be smart enough to leave." She sighs and I hear her mumble something about 'such a strange child'.

"I heard that."

"I hoped you would. Listen Cass I gotta go, its feeding time."

"Okay, talk to you later mom!"

"Bye hun." At the click of my phone I slide it into my pocket. I walk down the beach, and as usual when it's left by itself, my mind goes to some weird places.

_I wonder if one day people could evolve into sea creatures, like part fish. With gills and all that shit. _

That wouldn't even be fun anymore, who would want to swim their whole life. I mean, the water's great and all but really? I do like to run.

_Which is why you're walking alone on a beach right now?_

Exactly. Reverse phycology.

_You don't even understand reverse phycology. _

Good point. I scowl to myself and look up from watching my feet hit the sand. I don't even think that would be an example of reverse phycology. Whatever.

I snort aloud to myself before I look up, jumping a top a rock in the middle of the beach. I'm just about to look down, back to where I can jump back to the sand, when I spot a girl sitting by herself. I narrow my eyes at her, she's not looking at me, doesn't even seem to know I'm here. I take in her face, she's young, probably around nine. I notice how her face is red, as tears streak down the sides. I let out a huff, hopping from the rock and making my way over.

_We can't really leave a crying kid on the beach alone. _

The girl doesn't look up at me as I approach her, so I just stand there for a few moments before speaking up.

"Hey," she looks up abruptly at me, startled. I grin at her and sit across from her. She can't be more than eight or nine. She sniffles, wiping her nose on her sleeve.

"Hello." Her voice is shaky, and follows the stereotype for all eight year old kid voices. High pitched, and kind of shy. I fold my hands putting them in my lap.

"Why are you crying? You sounded pretty sad." Her lips purse as she looks down at her lap, I notice a bracelet with a wolf on it that she twirls around.

"Qwuilly got angry at me." A tear runs down her face again and I put a hand on her knee. "I came here all by myself."

_Well, I don't know who Will is, or how they are related, but we can go along with this…this is why I try to avoid crying children, unless their alone..on a beach. _

"Well that's not good." She looks up at me and I chuckle. "You shouldn't talk to strangers." Wait..I'm a stranger to her.

_Great job Cassie! In your quest to make her feel better you've now made yourself look like a kidnapper. Splendid! Bravo! _

"Bad strangers, I'm not one, I wanna help you." I ramble to the little girl, who giggles at me softly.

"Okay. What's your name?" Her head tilts to the side and I grin. I bow my head down dramatically.

"Cassie Andrews at your service my dear." I sit up at the sound of her laughing and narrow my eyes at her. "What's your name little squirrel?" I cringe. God. Did I just call that child a squirrel?

_Squirrel, Native American, goes together. _

Oh shit, that's racist. Bad, that's bad, whatever, not meant to be that way. Now I kind of notice why all of my friends back home say I'm always being accidentally racist. But it's not too bad, well, in this case. She doesn't seem to notice though, so it's fine.

"Claire!" I nod my head at her.

"Hmm…I had a fish named Claire once." She looks at me with wide eyes and I let out a snort, "It died." The little girl, Claire, looks heartbroken and I realize that was probably the wrong thing to say. "Peacefully though, my cat ate it," A tear goes down her face and I face palm myself. "But it was my fault, since I thought she wanted more room to swim and then, cats, fish, bad. Bad, bad, bad."

"Poor fishy!" Claire wails and I have no clue what to do. I stand up and grab her hand, pulling her up with me.

"I have an idea! Let's go find what's-his-face! Will!"

"Qwuilly?" I honestly have no idea what name Claire is saying, but I nod anyways.

"Yeah! Here, we can sing too!" I think for a few seconds as I get her walking down the beach with me before I start singing. _"And you'd kiss me, and hold me each night. We would have children, and they would be so beautiful, and we'd raise them, and all would be right!"_

"I don't know this song!" Claire complains, "You walk fast too." I let out a huff and scoop her up, plopping her on my shoulders.

"There, what song do _you _want to sing, personally, I think Delta Rae is fantastic, but I guess you're too young to get that."

"The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round!" Claire sings from atop my shoulders, and I try not to cringe.

"The wheels on the bus go round and round, all day long!" We both belt out the last part, I mostly sing louder to try and drown out the kid, she sings louder cause she's a kid.

_You're being a hypocrite Cassie_.

Yeah, oh well, I'll get over it. "Claire where too?" I ask and see a little hand appear on the left side of my head, pointing to the walkway into the parking lot. "Gotcha." I take off running towards there, Claire laughing as I make very dramatic airplane sound effects, until we hear him.

"CLAIRE!" I get two things. One, the ultimate rush of panic at the deep sounding voice yelling for the little girl. And two, said girl griping my hair and pulling back on it telling me to turn around.

"Ow! Ow, ow, ow!" I turn around sharply. "Let go! Let go!" Her hands let go of my hair and I stop running to see one of the biggest boys ever stomping towards me. I tilt my head back to look at Claire, giving her a look.

Mr angry muscles stalks towards us and I pick up Claire, putting her on the ground. "I'm guessing you're Will?"

"Who the, what the _fuck _do you think you were doing with her!" he yells at me, his body frame shaking, which I'm pretty sure isn't normal, as he jabs a finger towards my chest.

"I was helping her!" I snap as I stare down at his finger, watching it shake and I vaguely wonder what he would do if I smacked it away. I'd rather not find out. This guy seems very angry, and it's times like these where I could find my constant inner monologues helpful. But it's these times when it's actually quiet. It's kind of sad; I even ditch myself in strange situations.

"You just take away all the nine year olds you find on the beach!"

"She was crying! And actually you asshole, we were going to find you! If you are Will!"

"My name is Quil!" I look to Claire, who stands between us, looking at her through narrowed eyes.

"I said Qwuilly!" She defends herself and I shake my head slightly.

"Naw, I heard Willy, but we can go with Quil." We stare at each other for a few moments before Quil lets out a frustrated breath. "Hey, calm down douchebag, I was helping. She said you got angry at her anyways, so technically, this is your fault." I point at him quickly and then cover my mouth with my fist, my eyes narrowed at him. Motion behind Quil catches my eyes and I glance behind him for a moment, I hear a sharp low growl and glare at Quil, my eyes narrowed. "Did you just fucking _growl _at me!?" My voice raises at the end, so that I'm yelling and I shove my hands into his chest. His eyes widen and he takes a step backwards from me as I take one closer. "Do you, do you even understand how, how animalistic that is!?" I fumble over my words as I search for what to say.

"Sorry, listen, sorry I got mad at you it's just I didn't realize it was cause I yelled at her, and she could've and I thought you. Ugh, I'm sorry." I cross my arms over my chest.

"You should be, I was helping your people." I turn on my heel, walking down the beach, leaving them both. I don't get very far though before I feel something latch onto my leg.

"Don't go!" I look down at Claire, who looks up at me with wide eyes. "Qwuilly's just being mean and stupid! You should play with me more!" I let out a huff as she lets go, sinking down slightly on my heels so we're the same height.

"I'll see you some other time Claire, but I've got to go right now." She frowns at me and I grin slightly. "I promise."

"Pinky promise?" she asks, stinking hers out to me.

"Pinky promise." We shake pinky's on it and I stand back up. She looks behind me and a smile lights up her whole face.

"Uncle Paul!" I smile at the thought of Paul, and then turn around when Claire goes bounding down the beach past me. I smile wider when I notice that it is the same Paul, the one I met a few nights ago, scoop up Claire. He's only wearing a pair of cut offs and it makes me blush slightly when I remember how I woke up with him shirtless a few mornings ago.

_He sure doesn't need a shirt though, look at him. _

"Hey Claire-bear, whatcha doing?" His deep voice makes my stomach flutter and I blush when Claire points back to me and Quil, who now stands beside me.

"Cassie?" Paul grins when he sees me and I let out a snort.

"No, that's Cassie." I point to Quil, then back to myself, "I'm Quil, we switched." Paul lets out a bark of a laugh.

"Of course, how did I mix you two up?" He rolls his eyes sarcastically and I shrug.

"I honestly have no idea, God Paul, get it together." I let out a sigh and shake my head at him. We just stare at each other for a few moments before he starts laughing. I look around to Quil, whose eyebrows are hidden in his hairline; I raise an arm, letting it fall back down with a slap against my side. "I have no idea what's so funny. " I keep my face blank as I just watch Paul, who raises an eyebrow at me as he walks closer, putting Claire down.

"You're hilarious." He deadpans and I smirk.

"I laugh at my own jokes on the inside, of course I am."

"Uh, do you know each other?" My head snaps to Quil, who looks thoroughly confused.

"No." Paul and I say it at the same time and I grin. A grin slowly spreads across Quils face and his eyes flash to Paul.

"Oh! Dude you, I'm so telling everyone!" Quil stops for a moment, grabbing Claire's hand before they both take off down the beach.

"That was strange." I say after they are out of sight.

"Yeah, he was dropped a few times as a baby." I laugh as Paul comes closer to me, causing my heart to start racing. His voice suddenly gets serious as he looks down at me. "You left me."

"You found me though. Even if it was since Quil was yelling at me." Paul starts shaking in front of me, his eyes locked no to the spot that Quil went out of sight, and I take an involuntary step backwards.

"He was yelling at you?" he asks me through clenched teeth. His voice harsh and angry. I step towards him again, placing a hand on his arm. I almost take it back, surprised again on how hot his skin in. I had thought it was from being around the fire a few nights ago, but it's still the same. I leave my hand there anyways as I look up to his face, his jaw tight set.

"Yeah, but its fine now."

"He shouldn't yell at you." His shaking gets worse for a moment before he looks down at me. I give him a slight smile and he takes a deep breath, slowly he calms down. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine." I look at my hand, which still is set on his arm, and take it off, stuffing it in my jeans pocket. I can still feel the heat coming off him. I can smell him too. It's a strong, woodsy scent. It's fitting for what I know of him.

"Hey, I never got the chance to ask you before but, uh." I look up to him and see his scratch the back of his neck, "Can I have your number? We could like, get lunch or something sometime, I could get time off pat- off work." I don't reply for a moment and he looks down at the ground between us. "If you wanted to." I don't say a word, just get my phone from my pocket and hold it out to him. He raises his gaze to meet mine, a crooked smile on his face before he takes it from my hand.

I wait as he puts in his contact. He's about to give it back when he stops, looking at what I guess is my background picture. "That's Duncan and I." I grin, I move so that I'm looking at the photo with him. The lion's mouth is open as he looks back at me. I'm practically lying on his back; my fingers are in his mane. I'm looking on the ground, mostly because I was slipping and fell two seconds after Robby snapped the picture. I look smaller than I really am in the picture, considering Duncan is our largest male cat on the whole property, weighing somewhere around four hundred and forty pounds.

"He could hurt you." Paul sounds slightly angry again and I shrug.

"He could, but he hasn't. I'm one of four people at home who are allowed direct contact with all of the cats. Duncan's the gentlest one we have, even if he is the biggest."

"At home?" Paul sounds confused and I let out a small laugh.

"My parents run a big cat sanctuary; we rescue them and then provide them with a home."

"That's, that's great." Paul hands me back my phone and I smile at him, his shaking goes down again. "Do you want me to walk you home?" he asks me and I grin at him.

"That'd be great."

* * *

**Sorry for the late update! I'm trying to get more consistent with it. The next chapter will hopefully be up next week! Thanks for the reviews! They mean a ton to me!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks everyone for all the favorites and follows! Bear in mind that reviews provide inspiration and I love those as well! **

My bags were packed from the day I was born

Knew there was something I was living for

I found my place in a runaway car

And I never looked back

Never looked

Better Than This-Hunter Hayes

"So you're telling me that if you had the choice, you'd eat watermelon before ice cream?" If you just saw the look on Paul's face, you'd think I just told him that I would rather run over a puppy with an eighteen wheeler than pick it up.

"Yes. It's like water, but in solid form."

"Exactly! It's so boring!" he lets out a sigh and I roll my eyes at him as we walk down the road side by side towards my house. Ever since we left the beach, we had about five seconds of awkward silence before we started talking about the weather. Which lead to how hot it was getting when it wasn't raining, so almost never, which went to preferences between watermelon and ice cream.

Our opinions are rather different on that front.

"You're boring." I mumble under my breath, and I'm almost positive he can't hear me, until I'm being lifted off of the ground. "Paul!"

"I'm what?" he asks as I hand by my ankles, my head about a foot from the concrete as I reach up, trying to get to his hands. I make a noise of protest and he practically snorts at me. "I think you called me boring, which, I am anything but. I like to think of myself as tall, dark and handsome."

"Meh!" I try to raise my upper body, and fail miserably.

"I'm also a very active person, and tend to do lots of interesting things, so I'm pretty perfect." I let my body drop down and cross my arms over my chest.

"I think you're an arrogant bastard."

"You're just saying that because of all the blood rushing to your head."

"Which is your fault! Put me down!" I get what I asked for as he places me, surprisingly gently, in a heap on the side of the road. I get up, dusting off my pants as I glare at him. I stomp past him, ignoring him as he calls after me and he doesn't even have to jog to keep up with me.

"I think as part of walking you home, we have to walk together." I don't reply to him; don't even look at him, as I keep going. Stupid boy holding me upside-down. I don't like being upside-down at all, not one bit, makes me feel short.

_You are short. _

Makes me have to be reminded that I'm short. "Hey, I'm sorry Cassie." He does sound slightly concerned now. "I'll never do it again, I promise." I feel his hand on my arm and it sends jolts through me, and my heart seems to skip a beat.

I feel a smile tug on the ends of my mouth, but I clamp my jaw shut tighter. I turn down the road towards the house and Paul follows, his hand falling back to his side.

"Please, please, please! Come on Cass, I said I was sorry!" I duck my chin down as I smile.

"Fine." Paul lets out a sigh and I feel him nudge me, I look up to see a grin on his face.

"Really?"

"Really, you're forgiven." I turn up the walkway to Fred's house and I see Paul look it over.

"This is Fred's house."

"Yes, we share some of the same genetics." The look of confusion on Paul's face makes me bark out a laugh and I shake my head. "We're related, he's my uncle."

"Oh, I knew what that meant."

"Of course you did." We walk up to the door and pause.

"So-"

"Do you want a drink or anything?" The sentence comes out of my mouth quickly when I realize I don't want him to leave, the smile that I get in return makes me glad I asked.

"Sure." I open the door and we both walk in, I lead Paul to the kitchen and he takes a seat at the old oak table. The small kitchen looks even smaller with Paul in it and that makes me grin as I go to the fridge. I glance back at Paul and see him looking at the pictures that hang on the walls.

"So, do you want a soda, or water, or are you old enough for a beer," I glance back at him, an eyebrow raised as he looks at me. "I actually don't even know how old you even are." Paul seems to think for a moment, and I'm about to ask him if he knows his own birthday when he answers.

"I just turned twenty one actually. Last month." I turn back to the fridge, taking out a beer and waving it at him, he shakes his head though. "I'll have whatever you have."

"Hokay."

"Ho-kay?" he asks me skeptically. I don't turn around as I answer, grabbing two cans of grape soda.

"Yeah, like okay, but with an h." I turn around, walking to the table and sliding the soda to Paul as I take the seat opposite to him. He opens it as he looks up at me.

"Do you ever, drink?"

"Like alcohol?" I ask casually and see him nodding.

"Yeah."

"Used too, got me some pretty crazy memories that's for sure, but I gave it up for personal reasons."

"OH, what's your strangest memory." Paul asks, genuinely curious. I like the fact that he doesn't judge me for drinking before I was legal or anything, so I grin, setting down my soda as I recall one party.

"So, the summer before my junior year, so like, last summer, I was at this party. I wasn't really invited, my friend was and he was told to invite some of his friends, so that's how I ended up there. So we were all there. Oh! And the house it was at was this teacher's house, and he was an asshole. Which you should never do, if you're an asshole. His kid had the party, and everyone was there. And there was a pool table down in the basement, and this one kid, took a running start, launched himself onto the pool table, and broke it in half!" Paul chokes on his soda, before swallowing and laughing. "This other kid found out which room was the teachers, and went upstairs and took a shit on his computer." This sends Paul into more laughing, which seems to echo through the whole house. I let out a breath, chucking as I remember it. "So it was going great. I'm standing in the basement still, and I had a lot to drink then, so I'm like, starting to black out a bit. And some kid came downstairs and all I heard was 'something something police'."

"Oh god." Paul keeps in a laugh as I continue my story. I make a grand gesture with my hands, which I suddenly realize that I've been making hand gestures this whole time, I knock my phone from my pocket somehow, and Paul leans down to pick it up, placing it on the table for me.

"And in a brilliant moment of word association, I yelled 'fuck da pol-ice!'" I have to pause as Paul doubles over in his chair. "That's not even the best part! See! Everyone else. Joined. In. So it was like a hundred drunken white kids yelling 'fuck _da pol-ice_.' And the reason someone had said 'something something police' was because they were there!" At this point Paul has tears coming down his face and I just finish my story. "And this officer came downstairs and looked out over us, and I think he may have been impressed, and he leaned into his walkie-talkie and said 'get the paddy-wagon." I take a breath and close my eyes for a moment, Paul's calmed down slightly and isn't laughing anymore as he listens to me. "And then my friend Lucas, who is like, the smartest kid in our school, grabs an empty beer can, throws it on the ground and yells 'scatter!' and so everyone went in different directions. I ran into the laundry room and climbed up on the dryer and went through this window and I was running through the backyard and there was this big chain-link fence, and I thought I've never climbed a fence that high before!" I pause, thinking for a moment but getting nothing.

"And?" Paul asks me.

"And then I woke up at home." We both start laughing and Paul shakes his head at me, draining the rest of his soda as I sip mine.

"I think that story beats all of mine."

"Of course they do, you're boring." His eyes narrow at me and mine widen. Oops.

"What?" I get up from my chair and run to the other side of the kitchen, dropping my soda can in the trash as Paul gets up and comes after me. I run around a corner, into the living room and go to make a loop back to the kitchen. Apparently, my move is expected and I run right into Paul. I shriek as he lifts me off the ground, spinning me around in a circle.

I can't help the fantastic feeling that fills me when I'm with Paul.

* * *

"Katie's sittin' on the old front porch  
Watchin' the chickens peck the ground  
There ain't a whole lot goin' on tonight  
In this one-horse town  
Over yonder comin' up the road  
In a beat-up Chevy truck  
Her boyfriend Tommy, he's layin' on the horn  
Splashin' through the mud and the muck"

I sing along as Trisha Yearwood's voice plays from my iPod, dancing around my room.

"Her daddy says he ain't worth a lick  
When it comes to brains, he got the short end of the stick  
But Katie's young and man, she just don't care  
She'd follow Tommy anywhere

She's in love with the boy  
She's in love with the boy  
She's in love with the boy  
And even if they have to run away  
She's gonna marry that boy someday

Katie and Tommy at the drive-in movie  
Parked in the very last row  
They're too busy holdin' on to one another  
To even care about the show  
Later on outside the Tastee Freeze  
Tommy slips something on her hand  
He says my high school ring will have to do  
'Til I can buy a wedding band

Her daddy says he ain't worth a lick  
When it comes to brains, he got the short end of the stick  
But Katie's young and man, she just don't care  
She'd follow Tommy anywhere

She's in love with the boy  
She's in love with the boy  
She's in love with the boy  
And even if they have to run away  
She's gonna marry that boy someday

Her daddy's waitin' up 'til half past twelve  
When they come sneakin' up the walk  
He says young lady get on up to your room  
While me and Junior have a talk  
Mama breaks in, says don't lose your temper  
It wasn't very long ago  
When you yourself was just a hay-seed plowboy  
Who didn't have a row to hoe

My daddy said you wasn't worth a lick  
When it came to brains you got the short end of the stick  
But he was wrong and honey you are too  
Katie looks at Tommy like I still look at you"

The sound of the doorbell causes me to stop where I am on top of my bed. I shut off the music and open the door to my room, going down the hall and stopping at the top of the stairs at the sound of voices. Two male voices.

"See I accidently took her phone with me, so I just wanted to return it." Paul!? That couldn't be his voice, why would he be at my house, returning my phone? I get down on my stomach and army crawl forwards so that I can see the threshold to the house.

And yes, there he stands in all his six foot plus glory, talking to my Uncle Fred. Who has his arms crossed as he looks up at my friend. "What were you doing with her?" he asks and I can just picture him narrowing his eyes even though I can't see his face.

"We were just hanging out sir, but ugh, here." He holds out my phone and Fred takes it, nodding his head.

"Okay, I'll give it to her and say you had it."

"Great, thanks sir!" Paul turns around, "Hey Paul." Fred calls out and Paul turns his head to look back. "Call me Fred would ya?"

"Sure thing Fred, have a nice night." He grins before he's out of my sight and I quickly scramble up and rush back to my room. I only get about ten seconds of looking through a bag that I've yet to unpack before there're two sharp knocks on my door and it opens. I look over and see Fred leaning in the doorway.

"Hey Cass."

"Hi Fred." I raise an eyebrow at him, "What's up?" He takes it as an invitation to come inside and sits on my bed, looking around the room.

"Not much, out of curiosity, what have you been doing the day while I'm at work?" I shrug.

"Nothing really, hang around the beach, around here, I've made a friend." I grin, "His name is Paul."

My uncle pretends the act surprised and fails miserably at it. He should be happy though, I usually don't tell him the name of my friends, even if he has met them before. "Paul Lahote?"

"I don't know his last name." that's not a lie, I actually don't.

"Well, it is that one, here, he just dropped this off." He throws me my phone which I catch and look over for any signs of damage, luckily there are none. Paul would be a dead man if there was. "I'm not saying that you can't hang out with him, but he gets in trouble a lot Cass, but oh hell what am I saying, so do you. Nevermind. Good night baby girl." He gets up and sighs.

"Good night Fred." I smile at him, which he returns before leaving the room, closing the door behind himself. I let out a sigh before falling back on the floor, spread out on the carpet that I had put out beforehand. My phone vibrates in my hand a few seconds later. I lift my hand so that the screen is over my face. It's from Paul.

**Sorry about taking your phone I really didn't mean to**

My fingers type out a reply quickly, 'It's fine I didn't even notice it was gone'

**Good..what's up?**

'The sky'

**Oh you're so funny I can't contain my laughter. **I let out a snort of a laugh before I reply again, a grin on my face.

'I know I'm sorry if you injury yourself because of it'

**How would I get hurt laughing?**

'Lack of air and then you choke and die'

**You have a very happy outlook on that**

'I try to'

I'm laughing myself at his responses and get up, flopping ungracefully down on my bed. I don't get a reply for a few minutes, and I'm about to turn off my phone when it goes off again.

**By the way you're not very sneaky I saw you on top of the stairs**

I face palm myself, that's embarrassing. 'Well I had to make sure you weren't murdering Fred.'

**Oh course, I gtg all the guys are over at my place and are making fun of me for texting too much. See you tomorrow? I have work till one but I could meet you at First Beach at one?**

I grin as I type out a reply. 'Sure see you then. Night.'

I close my phone, shutting it off before plugging it into the charger.


End file.
